The Depression and Dust Bowl in a Segregated America
In order to have a better understanding of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, you need to have an understanding of the historical context in which the setting of this story takes place. This will prepare the reader to make more informed predictions and synthesize information between history and the story to make better connections.
Depression/Dust Bowl Timeline
1. Borrow a copy of “Riches to Rags” from Mrs. Carr. Please return ASAP!
2. Create a timeline describing 8 events of this period in American history.
3. Write a sentence description of each of your 8 events.
4. Include an illustration or symbol with color for each event.
5. Space you timeline appropriately.
Depression/Dust Bowl Timeline
1. Borrow a copy of “Riches to Rags” from Mrs. Carr. Please return ASAP!
2. Create a timeline describing 8 events of this period in American history.
3. Write a sentence description of each of your 8 events.
4. Include an illustration or symbol with color for each event.
5. Space you timeline appropriately.
Attached is the link to the PBS documentary we watched in class entitled Surviving the Dust Bowl.
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Meet Mildred Taylor
Mildred D. Taylor was born September 13, 1943 in Jackson, Mississippi. Taylor grew up in a household that told stories about her proud and dignified black ancestors, but she heard a very different version of history at school. She believe school history texts diminished the contributions of blacks and glossed over their poor treatment in history, so she wrote her stories in order to give a truer version of black families and their struggles. Even though the Logan’s, the family about which she mainly writes, did not exist, many of her books do come from true stories about her family. Taylor wanted to use her novels to emphasize the importance of black families who struggled before the Civil Rights Movement was even heard of. These families set the stage for people like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., who would follow two decades later.
Taylor, herself, was born in the south, but her father moved her family to the north in the mid-1940’s because “he refused to allow her older sister Wilma and her to live as he has to live his, in a segregated, racist society that allowed no or little opportunity to blacks. Even though racism, then, as now was everywhere, at least the family would have better chances at jobs in the north. They made an annual visit to the south though, to visit their families. Taylor soon realized that she was expected to act-and was treated- differently in the south merely because of the color of her skin. Taylor’s father thought it very important that she and her sister be aware of racial injustices, particularly prevalent in the south. Despite the discrimination in the south, Taylor looked forward to the annual trips. She remembered learning more about her family there, about the community, and the oral tradition of passing down stories of her ancestors. She soon wanted to be a storyteller like many of those in her extended family, including her father.
When Taylor was ten, she and her family moved into a newly integrated Ohio town. She was the only black child in her class. She soon realized that she was the first representative of her whole culture in her class, and so everything she did would be chalked up to blacks as a whole. Taylor was uncomfortable in history class because the history she learned in textbooks was far different from what she learned at home. Everyone thought she was making up what she knew of history-if it wasn’t in the textbooks, it didn’t happen.
In 1973, Taylor wrote her first book. She had a contest deadline, and had to quickly write her Songs of the Trees, the story that would introduce the Logan family. It was selected as a winner in the African-American category of the Council of Interracial Books for Children contest. The book is based on an actual incident.
Taylor’s next book, and her most widely read was Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. It earned the Newberry Medal in 1977 and continues the Logan family saga. Discrimination is an everyday occurrence in the Logan family, as the book chronicles. It is an emotionally powerful story and has already become a classic in children’s literature.
The next two books in the Logan family series are Let the Circle Be Unbroken and The Road to Memphis. Mildred Taylor has also written three shorter stories, The Friendship, The Gold Cadillac, and The MississippiBridge.
Taylor, herself, was born in the south, but her father moved her family to the north in the mid-1940’s because “he refused to allow her older sister Wilma and her to live as he has to live his, in a segregated, racist society that allowed no or little opportunity to blacks. Even though racism, then, as now was everywhere, at least the family would have better chances at jobs in the north. They made an annual visit to the south though, to visit their families. Taylor soon realized that she was expected to act-and was treated- differently in the south merely because of the color of her skin. Taylor’s father thought it very important that she and her sister be aware of racial injustices, particularly prevalent in the south. Despite the discrimination in the south, Taylor looked forward to the annual trips. She remembered learning more about her family there, about the community, and the oral tradition of passing down stories of her ancestors. She soon wanted to be a storyteller like many of those in her extended family, including her father.
When Taylor was ten, she and her family moved into a newly integrated Ohio town. She was the only black child in her class. She soon realized that she was the first representative of her whole culture in her class, and so everything she did would be chalked up to blacks as a whole. Taylor was uncomfortable in history class because the history she learned in textbooks was far different from what she learned at home. Everyone thought she was making up what she knew of history-if it wasn’t in the textbooks, it didn’t happen.
In 1973, Taylor wrote her first book. She had a contest deadline, and had to quickly write her Songs of the Trees, the story that would introduce the Logan family. It was selected as a winner in the African-American category of the Council of Interracial Books for Children contest. The book is based on an actual incident.
Taylor’s next book, and her most widely read was Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. It earned the Newberry Medal in 1977 and continues the Logan family saga. Discrimination is an everyday occurrence in the Logan family, as the book chronicles. It is an emotionally powerful story and has already become a classic in children’s literature.
The next two books in the Logan family series are Let the Circle Be Unbroken and The Road to Memphis. Mildred Taylor has also written three shorter stories, The Friendship, The Gold Cadillac, and The MississippiBridge.
| rothmc_meet_mildred_d_taylor.doc |
| rothmc_reading_checks.doc |
| rothmc_vocabulary_bookmarks.doc |
